Unique Snacks
Reading, PA
Unique Snacks has been baking pretzels in Reading, Pennsylvania, the self-proclaimed Pretzel City, since 1921. The bakery started in a small garage in a Reading half-alley, and six generations of the Spannuth family have run it since, blending Pennsylvania Dutch tradition with Bavarian family recipes. A seventh generation is already working the production floor.
The bakery's signature product was born by accident. In the late 1950s, a batch of over-proofed pretzels burst open in the oven, a flaw by every conventional standard. Rather than toss them, the family sold them anyway and discovered customers loved the craggy, extra-crunchy result. Grandpa Spannuth then worked out how to reproduce the effect on purpose, and the Pretzel Split was born: a hearth-baked pretzel that splits along its surface, creating more crunch and more surface area for flavor in every bite.
Splits are still made the same patient way today, in original, extra dark, unsalted, extra salted, multigrain, and sprouted varieties, alongside Sourdough Rings, hollow pretzel Shells, and mini Knead'Ems. Unique favors an artisan-style process over mass production, using short ingredient lists and grain sourced from Pennsylvania farms. A century in, it remains one of America's oldest family-owned pretzel bakeries, still baking a short drive from where it started.
